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Westward Expansion Roles

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The government has many different roles throughout history and today. They had a very different role during westward expansion than today. Capitalism is a mostly non controlling government so you would have a lot of freedom and choice.The proper role of government is support the growing country and to spread capitalism.
During westward expansion the government wanted, ( as well as many other Americans did,) to move west. To make capitalism spread west they passed the Homestead Act . “...The Homestead Act encouraged western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land…” (Mr. Lintner September 11th). Then they had to live on that land for 5 years. Naturally, people packed up and headed west to get 160 acres for a small filing fee. …show more content…

He and his men were killed in 1 hour.
During the war the government tried to introduce the native americans to capitalism, this was known as assimilation. To try to assimilate them they passed the Dawes act. “They broke up reservations and gave land to individual native americans” (Mr. Lintner September 12th). This, unsurprisingly, did not work.
The next issue to settle was actually getting to the west. Every wanted to move west, but they couldn’t get there. The government decided to make railroads. This would drastically decrease the time it took to get there. This also gave opportunities to new businessmen who would become rich off of this.
With new settlements rising the economy had to become more stable. The government decided to switch to paper money, but then came a huge debate over what the currency would be backed by- silver and gold or just gold. This was bimetallism vs monometalism.Bimetallism would cause inflation, and monometalism would cause …show more content…

They moved away from expansion into immigration. They had to protect Americans and their jobs while helping immigrants settle in America.
In the late 19th century immigration started increasing they all were heading to America. Citizens of America were scared they would lose their job to immigrants because they would work for cheap. In the west wages were declining due to the Chinese immigrants taking jobs. Then the government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 to protect the American’s jobs. The act stated no Chinese immigrants would be allowed in unless their parents lived in America.
After this act was passed the main concern of the government was urbanization. They government helped out with five challenges of urbanization crime, fire, transportation, sanitation and water. They lower crime by making it easier to arrest people in the court of law. Then they government reduced fire risk by replacing wooden houses with non-flammable ones.The fixed transportation in cities wasn't exactly fixed and they got around by foot or horse and buggy, or for the luxurious- an automobile. The government made a trash disposing system to fix the city’s sanitation problems as well as making a sewer network. They made a pipe system for clean drinking water to supply

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As America continued to grow and prosper, the only logical place to continue was westward where over 200 million acres of land was ripe for progress and growth on the other side of the Mississippi. The government at that time had many miles of federal land and was of the mindset that they could grow the country and bring some money back into central government by selling these parcels of land off to Americans. The distribution of Government lands had been chaotic since the Revolutionary War: overlapping claims and border disputes were commonplace. The Homestead Act of 1862 and Desert Lands Act of 1877 helped to promote ownership for homesteaders and spur westward expansion.

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Another 80 acres would go to each unmarried recipients. It was stipulated that the land could not be alienated for 25 years. Any Indian that received land automatically became citizens of the U.S. They were obligated to state, federal and local laws. All of the supporters of this act

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Millions of Americans moved westward hoping for a path to economic opportunity. Additionally, “the land was free and the price was right” was a result

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The transformation of the West changed the frontier into a new and growing part of the United States. Over the period of twenty five years the land changed drastically. New technologies were created allowing the expansion of the United States to continue marching forward. The Native Americans were conquered and the railroads brought greater civilizations. The United States had already started creating a path leading into the West by laying down railroad tracks, consequently the Indians fought back in fear of losing their homelands and people.

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The United States government played a major part in Westward expansion. From building railroads to relocating Native Americans to reservations, the U.S. realized how big the West was both financially and politically. They found many ways to encourage citizens to settle in the west. They sold cheap land, borrowed money to support the railroads, cleared up hundreds of acres of good, fertile land (by taking it from the Native Americans). In this essay, we will be discussing the roles of the U.S. government in Westward expansion.

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The idea of everyone having their own land in the new frontier was opportunity of a life time. The pursue the American Dream wow what a deal of taking your own land, finding your own destiny, and the master of your own fate you can’t ask for anything more. The immigrated came by the boat loads to the US in the 19th century.

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Tashena Rochester Americans move to settle in the West was purely motivated by the need for more money. The government once thought of the West as uncivilized and that humans should not live there. They thought that only uncivilized people such as the Indians and the wild animals should live there. But after the Civil War, the government encouraged people to move westward for more than one reason. One of the main reasons for Americans to move there was to rob the Indians of their land.

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Westward Expansion Flash Draft Have you ever wondered about what would 've happened if the westward expansion never occurred? We wouldn 't have many things you know today and America would be a lot smaller. The westward expansion happened during the 1800s and helped shape the modern America. The westward expansion started with the Louisiana Purchase and was made even stronger by the Gold Rush. Many people came to strike it rich or just to start a new life out west.

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